Migrant crisis as 4,300 people deported from Britain discovered back in UK
A jaw-dropping amount of migrants forcibly removed from Britain have been discovered back in the UK. Between 2021 and 2025, it has been revealed by the Home Office that 4,614 re-entry events recurred after deportation.
723 migrants were removed on two or more occasions, yet were found to have returned back to the country. However, it is not clear from this data how many migrants remained in the UK after their return. The figures show that after being removed, more than two migrants re-enter the country everyday.
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It is also admitted that these figures could be much higher, due to the fact that it is impossible for every individual to be matched with previous ID checks.
According to The Sun, the most prominent group amongst this re-entry data were Albanians, who accounted for 1,525 of the individuals found to have returned to Britain.
They were followed by Romanians (767), Afghans (281), Lithuanians (233) and Iraqis (150).
In 2025 there were 26,388 voluntary returns and 8,590 enforced returns, the latter of which cost an average of £48,800 per return.
Despite the ‘one in, one out’ deal made with France which aimed to deter those making the dangerous journey, multiple deportation flights took off without carrying any of those who had entered illegally into the country.
Only 921 migrants had been returned to France under this policy as of June 2026.
This is over half of the total number that entered the country in the following week alone.
A Home Office Spokesperson said: “We will not accept any abuse of our borders. Individuals who are returned and subsequently attempt to re-enter the UK illegally will be caught and removed.
“Nearly 70,000 individuals have been returned or removed from the UK since the July 2024 election to the end of March 2026 - a 41% increase on the number of returns recorded in the previous 21 month period”.